Kenya’s efforts to contain wage bill lose steam

The Jubilee administration’s initiative to slash the ballooning public wage bill and save more funds for development is fast coming to a dead end.

Teachers demonstrate in Kisii town during last year’s strike to demand for higher pay. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

In the first six months of the current financial year, the wage bill seems to have dramatically shot up to unsustainable levels as more money goes to paying civil servants’ salaries. According to the Controller of Budget, Agnes Odhiambo, between July 2015 and December last year, the Government spent close to 17 per cent of the national income on personnel emoluments, making a mockery of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s much-publicised initiative to contain the public wage bill.